Juvenile Delinquency - Paper 2
JUVENILE DELINQUECY-
Juvenile Delinquency
Introduction
A “Juvenile” or “Child” means a person who has not completed eighteen years of age.
According to International Law, a ‘Child’ means every human being below the age of 18 years. Today this is a universally accepted definition of a child which comes from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
The notions about juvenile delinquency held by laymen and some law enforcement officials are faulty and misleading. For one thing, they often assume that juvenile delinquents are simply under-age criminals that is, non-adult criminals, or juveniles who engage in offences that constitute crimes when committed by adults, and are between the age of seven and sixteen or eighteen years, as prescribed by the law of the land. The maximum age today for juvenile delinquents according to the Juvenile Justice Act of 1986 is 16years for boys and 18years for girls.
Youths who are involved in ‘status offences’ such as truancy, vagrancy, immorality and ungovernability also fall within the definition of juvenile delinquency. According to Reckless (1965), the term ‘juvenile delinquency’ applies to the ‘violation of criminal code and/or pursuit of certain patterns of behaviour disapproved of for children and young adolescents’. Thus, both age and behavioural infractions prohibited in the statutes are important in the concept of juvenile delinquency.
The difference between a delinquent child and an adult criminal is important from the case-work approach. The difference between the two is made by the conduct involved, the methods employed by the court, the philosophy and methods applied in treatment, and the individuals’ status, reputation and civil rights in the community after adjudication.
A number of factors play an important role in a youngster’s delinquencies.
Individual Factors: * Submisiveness * Defiance * Hostility * Impulsiveness * Feeling of insecurity * Fear *
Juvenile Delinquency
Introduction
A “Juvenile” or “Child” means a person who has not completed eighteen years of age.
According to International Law, a ‘Child’ means every human being below the age of 18 years. Today this is a universally accepted definition of a child which comes from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
The notions about juvenile delinquency held by laymen and some law enforcement officials are faulty and misleading. For one thing, they often assume that juvenile delinquents are simply under-age criminals that is, non-adult criminals, or juveniles who engage in offences that constitute crimes when committed by adults, and are between the age of seven and sixteen or eighteen years, as prescribed by the law of the land. The maximum age today for juvenile delinquents according to the Juvenile Justice Act of 1986 is 16years for boys and 18years for girls.
Youths who are involved in ‘status offences’ such as truancy, vagrancy, immorality and ungovernability also fall within the definition of juvenile delinquency. According to Reckless (1965), the term ‘juvenile delinquency’ applies to the ‘violation of criminal code and/or pursuit of certain patterns of behaviour disapproved of for children and young adolescents’. Thus, both age and behavioural infractions prohibited in the statutes are important in the concept of juvenile delinquency.
The difference between a delinquent child and an adult criminal is important from the case-work approach. The difference between the two is made by the conduct involved, the methods employed by the court, the philosophy and methods applied in treatment, and the individuals’ status, reputation and civil rights in the community after adjudication.
A number of factors play an important role in a youngster’s delinquencies.
Individual Factors: * Submisiveness * Defiance * Hostility * Impulsiveness * Feeling of insecurity * Fear *
References: 1. Wrobleski.M,Henry(2000) an introduction to law enforcement and criminal justice, Thomson learning,USA. 2. Chinte,C.l.(1949):fifty years of juvenile court. In M.Bell(Ed.)Current approaches to delinquency, New York: National Probation and Parole Association. 3. Caldwell: Criminology, p-357 4. Juvenile justice system & rights of child,(2003) Paryas institute of juvenile justice,pp. 9-20 5. Reckless, Walter, hand book of practical suggestions for the treatment of adult and juvenile offenders, government of India, 1956. 7. National crime records Bureau, Report, 2007, New Delhi. 8. Juvenile Delinquency, World Youth Report,2003,pp,200-201 9. Gabriela Mistral, Nobel Prize winning poet from Chile. 10. Ahuja, Ram (2000): social problems in India, Jaipur, Rawat publications